Chapter 1089: The Shortcomings of Huaxia

"Yes, Father. And as for us and the Jiuli, there really isn't much room for deep cooperation. After all, they are so far away; at most, we can just trade local specialties with each other. Furthermore, your prediction at the time was that the Xuanyuan Tribe and the Jiuli would go to war. In the future, our relationship with the Jiuli should be a bit better, right? So, will Xuanyuan still go to war with the Jiuli?"

Baifeng looked up and sighed: "Ah, my previous predictions were never wrong, but ever since Changle got together with that girl named Ayuduo, I really don't dare to be so certain anymore."

"Xuanyuan's ambition is a certainty. After occupying the Shennong Clan, he will gain more population and more fertile farmland, so he will definitely proceed with even faster expansion immediately. By then, his strength will develop even more rapidly, the time for attacking the Jiuli might be moved up, and when he attacks the Jiuli, there won't be as much resistance, making it easier to conquer."

"Looking at Xuanyuan as a person, I don't think he would give up just because it's difficult, so attacking the Jiuli is a certainty."

"But what I am more worried about now is whether he will treat our Huaxia as a target even before the Jiuli."

"Yulong, you shouldn't look at our Huaxia and see only the wealth, the tall city walls, and the powerful Weapon; our shortcomings are also particularly obvious."

"We lack the foundation of development that those large tribes have had for hundreds of years, or even longer. Our population is not large, and our control over the surrounding areas is insufficient. Their territories are scattered with countless tribes, large and small, which control their vast lands and can provide tax revenue to the people in the central regions."

"Why is our Huaxia City able to support so many people? First, it is the advantage of our Geography. There is plenty of fish and no shortage of water. At the beginning, our main food source in Huaxia was actually fish—that Dahu—which provided us with the accumulation needed at the start of our nation's founding."

"Only later, through planting, did we ensure we weren't short on food. But our development has been too slow. When it comes down to it, we are still in a stage of accumulation. What we can truly control is actually just the area within five or six days' travel around Huaxia City and Lema City. Any further out, there isn't even a single person from our Huaxia; it is all Wasteland."

"We have only just settled people in the more distant Xiao Town and the Western Development Group."

"But they are different; they are sufficiently dispersed and have enough people. It is precisely because they are so dispersed that they can support such a large population. Qingqiu City had so many people before, but it mainly relied on those small tribes to support it, providing meat and Grass Seed. If they had relied solely on themselves, in such a small place with such a dense population, they would have definitely starved to death."

"They are poorer, but their control over their tribes is stronger. We cannot do that, so it is difficult for us to reach further out."

"The Golden Autumn Gathering is coming up in a few days, and we have to send people on the road again, but we don't have many Soldiers left that we can mobilize, and we cannot abandon the gathering that we worked so hard to control."

"This is our trouble. Only when our development of the entire Huaxia is in place can we have the confidence to go to war with the Xuanyuan Tribe and the others. Right now, we can only use these two cities to scare them. They don't know what is behind us; they just see the facade and think we are very strong."

"This is also the reason why I am unwilling to take over the entire territory of the Suiren Clan. By leaving a certain buffer zone, we can stabilize our own retreat path first, send the population to the west, and make the west solid. Even if we took the Suiren Clan's territory, we wouldn't be able to hold it firmly."

"Furthermore, our Gunpowder and the Sulfur Mine are not completely in our hands. I am afraid that later they will fall into Xuanyuan's hands. Fortunately, we can enter that location of the Suiren Clan now and develop it for a few more years. If we don't find a new Sulfur Mine in the next few years, Gunpowder will disappear in this era."

"If Xuanyuan cannot get it himself, he won't let us continue to possess Gunpowder. He certainly won't continue to give us Sulfur. In the first few years, we could exchange it through mutual benefits, but if Xuanyuan feels it is dangerous, he definitely won't give it to us anymore."

"Yulong, this matter is something you will need to worry about in the future. I will try my best to stabilize things while I am young; the future will depend on you. Gunpowder is our Huaxia's main reliance."

Yulong also felt the pressure. After being told this by his father, he truly felt that Huaxia had such obvious shortcomings and disadvantages. This was a problem he would need to solve in the future: developing the west and increasing the intensity of development and control over the territory. It should be that the whole country provides blood to Huaxia City, serving as Huaxia City's retreat and reliance, rather than Huaxia City providing blood to all other places. The current model is clearly unreasonable.

"I understand, Father. I will work hard to solve these problems in the future."

Baifeng continued to recall: "Regarding this Jiuli, let me tell you, they have some good things that we must trade with them for. For us in these inland regions, it is very important."

"Father, what are these things? How do you know? Also, what is 'inland'?"

Baifeng laughed and said: "Inland is land like ours that is far away from the ocean. The Jiuli are near the sea, and what we need are things from the sea."

"The products of the sea are more abundant and richer than those on land. I have told you before that the place where we live is called Earth, and the ocean is much larger than the land. One relies on the mountains if living in the mountains, and on the sea if living by the sea. But they might have very limited development of the sea right now because the ocean is too dangerous. They don't have the ability to understand the laws of the tides, to figure out the temper of the ocean, and even less the ability to build a Large Ship, so they think the ocean is dangerous and stay away from it."

"What we want is not things from the deep sea, just some wild vegetables that grow in the sea. Sea vegetables are not like ours; ours require generation after generation of cultivation to grow large enough and tasty enough."

"But those in the sea are different. Without anyone interfering, those sea vegetables can grow taller than our buildings, and after being dried, they can be stored for several years without rotting, and they taste good too."

"Most importantly, those sea vegetables contain things we need, just like medicine. Eating those sea vegetables can prevent the occurrence of certain diseases. This is our greatest need."